Inside this Issue

Welcome……………………………………...... 1 Introducing Member Ted Tyszka .…… 3 Catalogues - which one do you use .… 4 Listing our Stamps …………………....…. 10 I’m sending you some stamps ........ 11 Man I love Errors ……………..……………. 11 A Stamp Story …………………... ……………. 12 Be Bold or Italic , never Regular ….…... 14 Letters to the Editor ……………………….. 14 Members Moments…..……………..…… 15 Chairman’s Chatter……………………….… 16

Guest Editorial

Yes that picture is me. I am Andrew Farberov and I am a IPDA Committee Director based in Brooklyn New York. I am also the IPDA Auditor. I would like to welcome everyone to the Newsletter this month. Each month a different Director will write this Editorial and this month is my turn.

I have been associated with the IPDA for nearly 6 years now and can say how refeshing it is to see the recent revitalization of the Association. At the beginning of 2018 it looked like we might fade away but fortunately that did not happen and we are now a strong group. Our goal in 2019 is to make our Association bigger and more relevant in the philatelic community. This cannot be achieved just by the Directors; it needs us all to contribute. I attend a few shows each year here in the US and I always take along about 50 “Invitation to Join the IPDA” brochures. I get them from the Members Only area on our web site. I hand them out to dealers and try to convince those dealers to join us. In addition to this face to face promotion I write, phone, Skype, WhatsApp (we are all on the internet 24/7) to my colleague dealers and see how they are doing in this internet world and I am pleased to say I have been able to recruit quite a few to become members. I mention these two activities because like me you can do the same. If each of us brought in 1 or 2 new members over the coming 6 months we would easily achieve our goal of 300 members by the end of 2019. If we have that dealer presence then we will have a greater presence in the philatelic community and, lets hope, that will translate to buyers looking to see if a seller is an IPDA member. All of us on the Committee are working to make this happen, and I think that is one reason why you joined the IPDA. Now please give us some little help. …….cont’d

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Newsletter February 2019

2019 Membership Drive

Stamp of the Month may return in March

Guest Editorial …. cont’d

Let me take this theme one step further. I saw this stamp recently. I collect as well as sell Russian stamps and occasionally I look to see if I can add to my early Russia 1857 through to 1960 collection. It is an area of specialism of mine and has been for many years. I think I know a bit about this area of philately. What I found out I did not know was that this is a Fine Used stamp ! I joke of course. It was listed as Fine used. Obviously not by an IPDA member! Although I use this as an example, I have to say one thing that has generally impressed me is that the quality descriptions I read on the few stamp portals I visit are very good. There are some exceptions, this sadly is one and here is another. Pretty bad you have to agree.

As IPDA members we have a responsibility to get this bit right – correctly describ-ing stamp condition. It is easy to get right and it will in time distinguish us from the many sellers who really have little idea about quality and the correct descrip-tion of the stamps they are selling. When buyers see that a seller is an IPDA member we want them to know right away the stamps they are thinking of buying are correctly described. Look at the second stamp and tell me how much it would be reasonable to pay for it. My answer is nothing. I wouldn’t pay for it. There are far too many creases and missing bits and what looks like a tear, and it is definitely used yet it is described by the seller as Fine Mint Hinged. Let’s be kind and say a wrong description attached to the listing by mistake. It should have been noticed when it was listed though. A buyer should also get a feeling of confidence that what they are buying from a seller is also fairly priced. If the seller is an IPDA member that should automatically be registered in the buyers mind - IPDA member equals fair price and correct condition description. After all I am an auditor, isn’t that what I look for - correct details and correct numbers! It is the same with stamps. It is these aspects that we as IPDA dealers want to promote to the philatelic community, and why we want you as members to help us grow this Association. I hope you can do a little for us and yourselves in 2019. I hope you enjoy this issue. Please write to me at afstamps@aol.com or any of the Committee if you have feedback, comments or wish to send in material for this news letter. Andrew New York. 26 January 2019

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Described as Fine Mint Hinged

Introducing Member Ted Tyszka I came to the hobby at a much later age than most. It was 1974. I was 19, and in the Air Force, when a friend showed off his albums to me. His Australian ‘roos, in particular, captured my interest. Later, I went into a local stamp shop and purchased a Linn’s Stamp News, to learn more about the hobby. I then discovered the recently issued Boston Tea Party block of four, produced by the US. I thought that was the coolest thing - a continuous design over four stamps - and I was hooked.

Over the next few decades my interest in stamps waxed and waned, as other collectibles vied for my interest (and my spending money) – from baseball cards, to comic books, to classical record albums, and vintage paperbacks. Stamps, however, never strayed too far from my mind, and in 2003 my current wave of enthusiasm for them swelled after meeting my wife, who, at the time, worked for China Post. Not only did that spark an interest in the stamps of China, but it also rejuvenated my passion for stamps as a whole. Since then, there has been no turning back. I am a worldwide collector, though I have tried, at various times, to specialize in one area or another. There are simply too many beautiful and interesting stamps from all countries and time periods for me to place any arbitrary constraints on my collection. I love the classic colonial African bi-colors and the American Banknote Co. produced issues of various Latin American countries. I am equally fond of many modern issues, such as the Scandinavian engraved stamps, and (one of my favorites) the Miles Davis/Edith Piaf pane issued by the US Postal Service in 2012. In 2008, I discovered the StampWants web site, the original incarnation of what is now HipStamp. Having sold comics by mail-order, in the 80s, and books on Ebay, since 1997, I decided to open a StampWants store. Less than 6 hours after my first listings went up, I had my first sale. That was all the encouragement I needed to continue in this new line of business. StampWants (later called BidStart) also had a lively discussion board, and I made many valued friends. Today, I still have a store on Hipstamp, under my name TATyszka Stamps. I currently have a rather modest inventory, though I am working diligently at scanning and listing more items. I will retire from the workaday life in 2 years, and will then devote my full time to running my stamp business. I belong to quite a few online stamp collecting communities on Google and Facebook, and spend a great deal of time on the Stampboards.com board. On all the boards in which I participate, you can find me either under my name, Ted Tyszka, or my screen name, youpiao (the Chinese word for postage stamp). I have a Facebook page, TAT_ Stamps, which I utilize to gain more exposure for my store. I also recently started a Facebook group, called Classical Music On Stamps, for those with a bent toward those two subjects. And, finally, I have a Twitter account, @TAT_Stamps, where I tweet only about stamps, or on historical or musical events depicted on stamps. I’m excited to be a part of the IPDA. The organization is serving an important function for our hobby, and I look forward to the future working alongside all the great dealers involved. Regards Ted

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Catalogues - which ones do you use?

Recently I saw a thread on a Hipstamp forum where there was reference to the importance of owning and using the right catalogue. By that I mean not just relying on one set of say SG or Scott world catalogues, but having the more specialized and detailed catalogue for a specific area of interest or country or region. It was suggested that if one was dealing in say Germany one should really be using a specialized Michel catalogue rather than the basic Scott catalogue for example. Also, one of our members around the same time and completely independently placed a piece on our Facebook chat page about the Karamitsos Greece catalogues, explaining how very good value they were. This got me thinking of an idea for a piece on catalogues. This is it. Perhaps some of our more experienced members may find this less informative than others, however, it may provoke you to comment and provide catalogue details I have not included. If this happens I am thinking we can develop a section in the Members Only area for a more detailed listing of catalogues, catalogue contents and sources for the catalogues. This could become a reference source, a new service so to speak, for Members. A place where any member could find out where best to look for a particular country or region of philately. It is not only my view because I know others share this view – as an IPDA member we should be holding or have access to the catalogues necessary for us to professionally, and to the best of our ability, research and accurately describe the stamps we are selling. In fact I would go as far as to suggest that members avail themselves of the necessary catalogues as a matter of professional pride. Perhaps I will do an article on why, but that is another story LOL. All errors, omissions and poorly presented thoughts are mine and mine alone or because I have been unable to perform a better translation of foreign texts. I wish to publicly thank and acknowledge the many sources especially the SG, Scott, Spink, Postbleed, the FreeStampMagazine and Wikipedia websites. Let me start by listing some of the major catalogue publications and then look briefly at each one and provide just an overview of what you can expect if you delve deeper into their websites or range of catalogues. The major catalogue publication in this writing are: Michel, AFA, NVPH, Sassone, Edifil, Facit, LAPE, Maury, Stanley Gibbons, A. Karamitsos, Scott, Zumstein, Yang and Zagorsky. One general and useful link is here (requires Allow and Verify) and others are shown next to each catalogue in the following text. I hope you find the following useful as well as informative Michael IPDA General Secretary. ………… cont’d

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Catalogues ………………………. cont’d

Michel - the largest and best-known stamp catalogue in the German-speaking world. The country catalogues issued by Michel generally can be divided into Europe- and Overseas catalogues. Although also listed in the Europe- or Over-seas catalogues, Germany and a couple of other countries have their own specialised stamp catalogues. There are far too many catalogues to list here but this link will take you to

the details of their catalogues by country and region, including Overseas (20 catalogues) that covers the world, then Europe (7 catalogues) with Country (9 catalogues include 4 for Germany) and Topical (11 catalogues). As compre-hensive a coverage as anyone could want and comparable to the world series from SG and Scott but as a generaliza-tion with more detail. AFA - a specialized catalogue for the Denmark, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Danish West Indies, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Schleswig, Sweden. Mint prices from 1930. The stamp catalog is in format A5. The illustrations are in black and white. In total 776 pages. Language: Danish.

NVPH – The NVPH catalogue replaces the Specialised catalogue and will be issued once every two years. For more details visit this link. The specialised catalogue covered the stamps from the Netherlands and the Overseas Territories whereas this new catalogue will only cover Dutch stamps. This new catalogue has more extensive information and provides all necessary philatelic details including plate numbers, perforations and types, errors and misprints. It also includes a transparent and black perforation gauge and contains two imprints with which to point stamps to determine whether they are squared or skewed. For more details and infor-mation please visit this link. Edifil The 500+ pages of the Edifil catalogue cover stamps from Spain and Spanish Colonies and includes airmails, charity stamps, telegraphs, postal stationery with detailed and specialized listings. Countries and regions include Antilles, Cape Juby, Cuba, Philipines, Guinea, Ifni, Morocco, Puerto Rico, Rio De Oro, Sahara, Andorra, Equatorial Guinea. It is printed in Spanish in full colour and presents prices in Euro. To see more please visit this link. ……… cont’d

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Catalogues ………………………. cont’d Sassone (Italy and Colonies) From my reading there are a number, I counted 6, Sassone catalogues not counting that a few are presented in two volumes and they cover a wide and specialized range of Italy and related country, region and topical areas. This image shows the “short edition” which covers the Italian States. Kingdom, Italian Social Republic, Regency, Italian Republic up to July 2018, Trieste, San Marino up to July 2018, then the Vatican and then the Sovereign Military Order of Malta up to July 2018. There is a specialised Catalogue of Postage Stamps of Italy and Italian Territories in two volumes, and other specialised catalogues including the Postage Stamps – Italian States – Kingdom of Victor Emmanuel II – Kingdom of Italy 1850 – 1900. This is regarded as a prestigious catalogue of classic Italian stamps to 1900. Visit here for more details.

Yvert & Tellier The company prints catalogues for countries all over the world. Most of the catalogues are colour printed and are written in French. It is one of the international references along with Michel, Scott and Stanley Gibbons. The Yvert catalogs list stamps issued by all countries in the world, but for non-European countries, the volumes are organized in alphabetic order whereas Michel uses a geographical classification. There are far too many catalogues to list here but this link will take you to the details of their catalogues by country and region, including French Territories (5

catalogues) French Booklets (2 catalogues), Europe ( 4 catalogues), and Overseas (15 catalogues) . Facit The Facit catalogues, contain all published stamps from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Åland and The Faroe Islands. FACIT Sverige 2019 is 392 pages – it is the most extensive Sweden catalogue yet and features all Swedish stamps from the beginning in 1855. All values are described with prices for unused (both hinged and never hinged) as well as cancelled stamps and with all the different stamp designs depicted in colour. The catalogue is written in Swedish (with most parts in English as well) and is very user -friendly. It includes a list of stamps that cannot be soaked off using water. Tourist Postage Labels and Newspaper Stamps. First Day Covers, booklets and self -adhesive stamps in covers. Swedish Event Poster Stamps from 1874 through 1925 is presented, all published (549) Thematic Sheets up to 23 August 2018 are now pictured and complemented with a compiled price list. and more – visit this link for more detail or here. …….. cont’d

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Catalogues ………………………. cont’d

LAPE This is the catalogue for stamps from Finland. It contains Finland 1856-2018 and Aland 1984-2018 and is in full colour. It also includes Finnish coins and banknotes from 1864-2017 and the Iceland 1873 - 1948 postage stamps. The philatelic sections cover Finland stamp booklets, year sets, maxicards, East-Karelia, Ka-relia, Aunus and Finland christmas stamps (seals) and all have colour images and price quotes. This is the basic edition. and is presented in 400 pages in hardcover format. The languages are Finnish, Swedish and English although not completely translated. For more information please visit this site.

Maury is the catalogue for stamps from France and French Colonies, The catalogue is fully known as the Catalogue de Timbres de France Spink Maury. This catalogue is in two volumes with 1116 pages illustrated in colour. It has traditionally provided the highest level of detail for the stamps and covers of France and the French Colonies, with thousands of quality illustrations and prices updated every year. Spink acquired Maury in 2015 and have worked to make this the premium reference work of its kind. The catalogue includes stamps on cover. Tete-beche issues, blocks, reprints, military mail, specimens, telegraphs, officials, parcel post, booklets, essays, proofs, airmails, precancels, postage due, imperforate issues, balloon mail, occupation issues, telephone stamps, siege mail and war stamps. A very comprehensive catalogue which is widely considered the authoritative work for any collector of French stamps or anyone inter-ested in this area of philately. This link will provide further detail.

Surely every philatelist knows SG so just a few words about the catalogue part of the business. The first Stanley Gibbons stamp catalogue was a penny price list issued in November 1865 and reissued at monthly intervals for the next 14 years. The company produces numerous catalogues covering different countries, regions and specialisms; many of them are reissued annually.

Unlike other dealers' catalogues, Stanley Gibbons state that their catalogue is a retail price list. In other words, if they had that exact stamp in stock in the exact condition specified, the current catalogue price is the price that they would charge for it. This contrasts with most other catalogues which are produced by firms that do not sell stamps and therefore base their pricing on an average of market values in the country where the catalogue is published.

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Catalogues ………………………. cont’d

In practice, the actual price charged by Stanley Gibbons for an individual stamp may be different from the catalogue price because the specimen for sale is of a different grade, the market conditions have changed since the catalogue was produced, the firm has a plentiful or restricted supply of that stamp, or for a variety of other reasons. The list of SG catalogue publications which cover the world and many thematic and specialised areas is far too long to

include here of course but this link will help find any of the SG publications. A. Karamitsos publishes the Hellas 5-Volume set of Greece. The basic 3-volume set covers the following: Volume I details all Greek issues 1861-1969 plus Airmail, Charity, Postage Due stamps & National Resistance issues. Volume II details all Greek issues (1970-2017) plus Vending Machine Stamps & Stamps of Agion Oros and Volume III covers New Territories and Cancellations. Volumes IV and V cover airmail first/special flights and postal stationery. These catalogues provide an exceptional amount of information, plus they are bilingual, Greek/English. Here is a link to a review of Volume 1, and this link takes you to their website / eshop where you will also

find catalogues for Cyprus and many more literature publications .

Sakura The latest “Sakura Nippon Stamp catalog 2019 edition” details 8700 stamps. One of the major changes is the renewal of the layout from the previous year’s commemorative and special to the last stamp at the end. The catalogue covers Japan’s National stamp issues, Prefecture issues, definitive stamps, National Park stamps, New Year stamps, Greeting stamps, and more. It is in Japanese but with English language headings. Try this link for more. The number of new stamps issued in one year has exceeded 500 stamps in recent years, and stamps issued since the 21st century occupy two-thirds of the total. At the center “Memorial Series Stamp”, the layout has been improved to make it easier to see according to the issue

form and number of stamps.

Scott Given there is probably not a single reader who does not know about Scott, this will be brief. The Scott Catalogue is published by Scott Publishing Co, a subsidiary of Amos Media. It is published in volumes containing all the countries of the world that have ever issued postage stamps for postal usage. Volumes include the United States Specialized Catalog, and the 1840-1940 Classic Specialized Catalogue covering the world for the first 100 years that

stamps were issued, plus there are many e-catalogues providing country specific listings. for more about Scott catalogues please visit here and here. ……. cont’d

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Catalogues ………………………. cont’d

Yang's There are three catalogues published by Yang's Philatelic Trading Co of Hong Kong. These are Yang's Postage Stamps and Postal History Catalogue of Hong Kong Ming Yang, Tak Yang (24th ed 2016), Yang's Postage Stamp Catalogue of The People's Republic of China (Liberated Area) Nai-Chiang Yang, 1998, 7th edition and Yang's Postage Stamp Catalogue of the People's Republic of China Part II Nai-Chiang Yang (15th ed 2009). Although the Liberated Area (Communist local issues from 1930-1950) catalogue is now quite old, it is still considered the best existing catalogue of this specialised area. Probably one of the best sources for China related catalogues is here at the Michael Rogers website.

Zagorsky (Russia and Soviet Union) Zagorsky catalogues (Standard-Collection, Ltd) have been published since 1990. They cover the full range of Russian stamps. The catalogues are published by Zagorsky, LLC a well respected organisation which also specialises in expertising of Russian philatelic materials. Valery Zagorsky, the owner of Zagorsky, LLC, is an internationally recognized expert. He is the President of the Russian Stamp Dealers’ Association, Vice-President of the Russian National Academy of Philately, and a respected member of many other philatelic organisations. He is an A.I.E.P. expert and avid collector. I know him extremely well and have the highest regard for his philatelic knowledge and the quality of his catalogues. For more information please visit here.

Zumstein This catalogue covers Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, UNO Geneva . It has been issued regularly since 1909 and is considered to be an important reference work of Swiss philately. It is published in German and French. It is now available as a browsable tablet catalogue. Using the index of full text search function each of the more than 870 pages is quick to find. Pages can also be bookmarked while the page navigation feature makes it easy to scroll through the catalogue. This link may help. I welcome feedback and ideas to further expand this text, including additional catalogues, so to develop it as a Service to members. In writing this I realise I have not covered South America or African countries.

I do appreciate there are other catalogues that exist and I apologise for leaving some out. I am aware of Brusden White from Australia for example, Fischer covering Poland, Lamy covering Peru, Ma cataloguing China and of course there are various online catalogues including Australia by IPDA Member Larry Bailey and New Zealand by Stampsnz.com as well as digital versions of Michel, Scott, SG and Yvert available on subscription. There are surely other catalogues I have missed and I welcome emails giving me details. ipdasecretary1@gmail.com Michael

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Listing our stamps

Member Lee Coen sends us three vignettes. Here is his first, with his added comment; over and over

again, I shake my head - why is it so hard?

I am often found reciting this quote to many buyers and sellers I deal with all the time: ‘Value is established by what someone will pay for that item’. I visit many websites every day and I find myself shaking my head at the computer screen; literally.

If we as sellers of the IPDA are to offer a quality product for sale, then why hasn’t the message found its way to the other sellers out there on the web? We all know that quality sells and the first impression is your stamp for sale. Your stamp and the image is the first ‘view’ a buyer will have of your store/items. Have we all not heard that: ‘a pictures is worth a thousand words?’ I know I have. What amazes me is terrible images offered for sale on many websites. Granted, I am just learning all the ‘in and outs’ when it comes to listing stamps, but these on the right are not what a quality seller promotes. I currently have over 1000 images on one website and dabble in about 50+ on another. For the last 10 years of buying/selling stamps on the web I have lost count of the number of stamps I have scanned. What I am aware of is this - a clear and accurate image is what a quality seller will post in any listing on any web site. If you want your items to sell and reach millions of viewers then you have to put in the ‘work’. We must scan, crop and view the image before listing it for sale. To be a quality seller, and offer quality stamps/images for sale, I purchased a $40.00 printer. Yes, only $40.00 usd. I bought it at a big chain store and learned how to ‘scan’ images. I have more hours in learning how to scan and crop than I can count. As sellers if we are to find buyers, then a clear and accurate image, front and back, is what we need to have.

This stamp Scott#1375B, error, reverse printing, CV$750.00 usd, is one image I have scanned and have offered for sale. It’s clear, centered and has a boarder around the stamp. You can see the perfs. I am not en-croaching on the stamp itself by cropping it so tightly that there is no ‘room’ to view the stamp or it’s perfs. If you want to have many sales then providing a qual-ity image of your stamp(s) is the key. Good luck to you and your store. Lee

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Images above and below of stamps

for sale, exactly as listed

I’m sending you some stamps

Thanks again to Lee Coen for sharing these experiences. So my friend Joe emails me and tells me he has some Iran stamps for me to check out. Send them I tell him. Working a new job eight hours a day leaves stamps for the weekends. My new boots came in the same day the collection from Joe showed up. Choices-choices which one first? Boots, stamps?? Oh and dinner, the wife made tri tip (that is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin). After dinner, trying on my new boots and checking out the collection I stopped.

As a collector and seller you always look for that little hook, that special something that will take an average stamp to the top. What’s the big deal? I see NEW, (NEW YORK) oval cancel. Registry? And the kicker for me is the date of 1920. So? These stamps were printed in 1911-13. This stamp was sent from Persia/Iran to New York, I assume, seven years after production. Then placed in a collection for me to find and enjoy 97 years later. This group that Joe sent me won’t make me retire any time soon. But it did make me smile from ear to ear. Collection after collection I scan and look for those gems. Will I find one? Where’s that money maker? Where’s that error stamp? Not every collection you / I will find or scan will bring you millions, but it might just make you smile. Keep a keen eye out, even when the stamp has a used value of $1.00, look for that post mark, that ‘hook’, anything. Thanks Joe, after a long day on my feet, this stamp, even with the pulled perf, caused me to stop, scan and enjoy. You got any more? Lee

Man I love errors!

As a collector / seller certain images will catch my attention. While short on an attention span, just ask my wife, and long on stamps, either buying selling or listing, the stamp being offered in the Cherrystone auction site, lot #937, in January 2019, just seems to grab me. The colors work together and the image is inverted and crisp. While not a collector or seller of Guatemala, this is one cool looking stamp. The Cherrystone auction site has a cat value of $775.00 usd for this stamp. The current bid is $250.00. At the standard 40% of cat for listing to sell, this is right at the top of the food chain in bidding / buying stamps online and at auction houses. The centering is f/vf+ with the image being low in the picture frame and all perfs intact. This would be, could be a major addition to anyone’s collection. Funny, the more I stare at this stamp, the more my wallet is yelling ‘over here. I’m over here!’. Now if only I collected / sold errors of Guatemala and its countries stamps. How about you? Happy collecting, Lee

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Scott# 429 Used - Perf 11.0 x 11.5 Iran

Scott# 22(A), Guatemala inverted

How Tip Saved the Home - A Stamp Story

As every true story has of necessity a location, this story is located in the centre county of New York State, in the thriving and beautiful city of Cortland, the county seat of Cortland county. Tippecanoe Casey, the subject of this sketch, in the year 1892, aged 15 years, lived with his mother and two sisters in a delightfully located home in the city of Cortland. It is not at all needful to personally or morally describe our Tip (as he was familiarly called) any further than to say he was not a model of perfection, but just a wide-awake, well-balanced, truthful, honorable boy, which may not be so bad a model, after all. Upon Tip’s home was a blanket, and that blanket was a mortgage that covered almost every entire inch of it, and how to get this dreadful covering off had been a subject of speculation with Tip and his mother for a long time. But that, somehow, it should be done was Tip’s greatest ambition, as many were the plans that were arranged with that object in view, and that almost always failed. But Tip was not to be easily discouraged and would say, “Never mind, mother; next time we may succeed, and some time we will, God willing.” When Tip was 11 years of age his mother’s half-brother, Silas Blanchard, who had visited many countries as an official of government, gave to Tip a small collection of odd coins and a blank book of stamps of different lands. Tip never tired of counting over the coins and looking at the stamps and locating their home countries, first by his geography and later by Scott’s invaluable catalogues. ‘Twas almost an endless delight to him, and he began to study all about stamps and coins. From books left by his uncle he found out their history, causes of emission and necessities of the stamps of about all the countries, and the different grades of rare, scarce and plentiful. At the time he little comprehended that all this study would some day so redound to the happiness of them all and give him a competency that would uncover their home from that dreadful shadow that every year put on the appearance of taking the home from them. Four years of study made Tip a proficient in stamp knowledge, and he, if asked, readily told the fictitious value of almost any rare stamp, of what country, why it was issued, and nearly all about it. His memory was retentive of what he heard and read, especially of philately and numismatics. In this city of Cortland had lived for long years a wealthy and intelligent German named Andrew Van B, who from 1860 to about 1884 had been a most ardent philatelist and whose collection had become most advanced and valuable. I had personally had the pleasure of seeing his collection upon two occasions and had some idea of its value. I remember that there were shilling stamps of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, a host of them ; many early United States and Confederate locals and sets of U. S. Departments (including the high value State), and nearly complete U.S. postage. The greater part of them were in unused condition, and the used were in a fine state of preservation.

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…… cont’d

How Tip Saved the Home - A Stamp Story …… cont’d

In the year 1895 Mr. Van B- died from an attack of pneumonia and, I trust, entered the German Heaven, among the blessed. His heirs wished to convert his real estate into money and put it into the hands of a broker to be sold. His personal effects they advertised to be sold by auction. Now came Tip’s opportunity. When the two stamp books were put up there were but few people on account of the little publicity given the sale in the crowd who had any idea of their worth, Tip had never seen the albums before, but this day he was permitted to look them over, and he had quite an idea of the collection from what he had been told previously. Those few moments gave Tip a revelation and also a resolution. The auctioneer called for bids, and someone bid $5 per volume. Tip doubled it at once. For a short time there was no advance, and then someone raised the bid another $5. Tip doubled it again, and everybody began to stare. A woman edged toward Tip with a word of caution, but he shook his curly head, laughing his thanks, and waited for another bid. But no bid came, and the books were passed over to the tender care of Tip, who never was so glad, never so happy, as when he clasped his arms around them and said “Mine !”

There were single stamps in those books worth the $40 he gave, and Tip knew it. But not until the albums were at home and carefully examined did he know the treasures that were his. The next day he took them to a friend of his who was better able to judge accurately of their worth as a whole. That friend was so pleased with the lovely collection that she gave him cash enough for it to remove the mortgage from the home, and he had left how much do you think? Exactly $237.50, of which he has carefully used a portion for necessities, and $200 of it is in good hands, drawing Tip six per cent interest. Who can say that a knowledge of philately and numismatics (stamps and coins) may not some day become of exalted importance and financial benefit to the possessor of such knowledge? It will be that and more, for no stamp collector exists who does not learn civil government, history and geography, and acquire a fund of knowledge of the nations of the earth through his collection. Maud Charlotte Bingham. Reprinted from Eastern Philatelist, December 1895. Sourced with full acknowledgement from The Philately Blog - Images included only for example of US Confederates.

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Be bold or italic – never regular

This text was found somewhere and seen by someone who thought it might be useful. One way of telling dealers and collectors about the IPDA. Source is unknown and no acknowledgement or

permission to reprint has been given or is required.

Some time ago I saw this statement hanging at my holiday address. I like the expression. It can relate to different aspects in life. Do something. Look for a challenge, find new opportunities, but do not make the future look gray. Lack of challenge can indeed play a role in this. But performance is not the only way to improve your sense of self. Your relationship with other people also plays a role. The third important factor is physical health. Those who are fit also feel good; fatigue and gloom are intertwined. The above statement also applies to the stamp industry. If you are a collector you might not want to be helped by a “regular”, massive selling dealer, but by a reliable dealer with philatelic knowledge. You want them to be bold or ital-ic. It does not matter whether you buy directly from a dealer or via a dealer on the internet. OK, but how do I know if this dealer is a real specialist? There are many kinds of philatelic dealers and each one may have an expertise on several area of philately. Stamp dealers do not choose their career overnight. Most of them are devoted stamp collectors who have spent many years learning and studying their area of philately. They are probably always up-to-date with stamp values for example. This is where the IPDA comes into the picture. We don’t have “regular” dealers as members. We try to have bold or italic members. If you are not sure of the dealer you want to buy from, why not contact the IPDA? Look at the IPDA website, www.ipdastamps.com and see which dealers are Members. See how the IPDA can help you. Reliable internet based dealers are members of the IPDA.

Letters to the Editor

In the January Newsletter, why are we advertising. As on page 3 about the macro lens for the smartphone? IPDA response: Interesting point of view. The title of the topic was “From the Blog World” and that is what it was. A blog post. Yes it was advertising, maybe, because it was mentioning a product, but then it was also, and foremost, a text about the use of technology in philately. One clear point the author made was, it was used for stamps, “this macro lens for smartphone magnifies up to 12x which is more than enough for studying stamps and errors.”

Is the text on Catalogues in this issue advertising for the specific catalogue producers, especially where they have digital catalogues? We think not. The same goes for the macro lens. Technology is there and how we use it in philately is changing and how we learn about the technology and how we learn to use the technology is one thing we at the IPDA will try to help with.

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Members Moments

A new idea for a page of news and moments which might be of interest to Members - Feedback welcomed

Advertise: Members can advertise their website and stamp sales on the IPDA website. Please visit our website here and see how. Printed Label v Postage Stamps: Do you use stamps on the orders you mail to customers? Surely this is the basic of

good manners for us. It would seem not by all dealers. One member tells us of a dealer in the USA who mailed a large envelope with a post-age sticker label valued at USD $52.55. He writes “I sent off an email letting him know I was extremely disappointed; that I had been considering bidding on more of his lots but I would need his assurance that he will use high value stamps for the postage next time ……... He

quickly fired back saying well no, I’m not going to use stamps, it’s just not convenient.” You couldn’t make that up could you? And the image used is from a smaller parcel I received a week ago.

Damaged stamps for auction. Talking about making something up. Seriously, this was for sale in a group of stamps on a major auction site recently. The lot, with other complete stamps but with pieces missing and scratches to the front of many of the stamps was described as fine mint with hinge. Like I say, give a person a few stamps, a camera or a scanner and an internet connect and they become a stamp dealer. Now do you still wonder why we should be growing the IPDA and doing everything in our collective power to promote the Association, and us as respected dealers. The image is bad but that is what was on the scan for a buyer to see for this and the other stamps in the lot.

Promoting the IPDA through magazine articles: Can you help us get an article about the IPDA in a stamp magazine or philatelic publication? We have an article which describes the IPDA and what we are all about. If you have contacts in suitable places like philatelic magazines and journals where it might be good to promote the IPDA please let the General Secretary know - ipdasecretary1@gmail.com IPDA recruitment drive 2019: You may have seen our 2019 recruitment drive promotional advert. It is on page 1 of this issue. Any member who gets a new member joined up will get one year free membership commencing 2020. If you sign up say 5 new members you get 5 years free membership. Just make sure the new application shows you as the referring member on the application form. Help us grow the Association to 300 members during 2019.

Use the IPDA Logo: Do you use the IPDA Logo on your website? And perhaps other promotional material? Please do. Please let your customers know you are an IPDA Member. You can download it from the IPDA website, Members Only area or write to the General Secretary at ipdasecretary1@gmail.com for a copy if that is easier.

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Chairman’s Chatter

Hello, well it is nearly February and it seems only a few minutes ago I was writing this page for the January Newsletter. In fact I don’t really have a lot to say this month. With the start of the new year we have seen Membership renewal requests be sent our by Tony our Membership Secretary / Treasurer. Please get those paid up if not already done so. One reason is because I realise it is not that far away that we will be holding the Annual General Meeting. This is a very early notification for you - March 28th, 17:00 USA EST is the date and time. Have a look at the Calendar feature on the website ( on the About Us menu) and you might find your country time and date or just type your city in the Time Zone Converter. If you have paid your membership dues you can vote on the motions. I do not have details of the meeting yet but I am sure the General Secretary will get the Agenda out soon. Please look out for it - especially the Proxy voting procedure because I know many of you will have time difference challenges and probably be unable to attend in person. Also I see that we have added a new service to the Members Only area of the website. The General Secretary mentioned it in the January Newsletter. I had a look. I hope you had time to and that you use it if the opportunity arises. It is Identify this Stamp. Pretty self explanatory I think. Finally I am going to include the table below again because I think it worth reminding us all about upcoming shows and exhibitions. Especially if you are attending, please do promote the IPDA if you get a chance. If you think we should be advertising the IPDA at any of these please get in touch with me or the General Secretary.

Feb 2019 UK - ABPS Spring Stampex 2019 February 13-16, 2019 Venue: The Business Design Centre Islington London.

Mar 2019 Munich — Internationale Briefmarken-Börse München Int. Stamp Exchange Munich 2019: 28 Feb - 2nd March

Mar 2019 ASDA Chicago - Midwest Postage Stamp Show 2019 March 22-24, Venue: Holiday Inn Chicago

Mar 2019 Australia - Perth Stamp & Coin Show a three day event at the South Perth Community Centre, South Perth

May 2019 Winnipeg Philatelic Society Stampshow 2019 May 3rd - 5th Venue Sunova Centre, North Winnipeg

Jun 2019 Sweden - Stockholmia 2019 May 29 to June 2, 2019 Venue: Waterfront Congress Centre, Stockholm

Jun 2019 ASDA New York - Spring Postage Stamp Show 2019 May 31—June 2nd, Venue: The Watson Hotel New York.

Jun 2019 NAPEX Washington DC - National Philatelic Exhibitions: June 7—9th. Venue: Hilton McLean Tysons Corner

Jul 2019 USA - AMERICOVER 2019 Americover will be held at the Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel July 26-28

Aug 2019 Singapore - SINGPEX 2019 31 Jul to 4th August, 36th Asian International Stamp Exhibition, Suntec Centre

Aug 2019 APS Stampshow 2019 August 1-4, 2019 - Venue: CHI Health Center Omaha

Aug 2019 BALPEX 2019 August 30-31 to September 1, Venue: Delta Baltimore Hunt Valley Inn

Dec 2019 Aeropex 6 - 8th December 2019 - Drill Hall, Adelaide - Specialised National Philatelic Exhibition

May 2020 London 2020 Specialised World Stamp Championship Exhibition: 2 - 9th May, The Business Design Centre London

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